Love is
by FFHannibal
Summary: A collection of one-shots about various Harry Potter pairings.
1. Introduction

Hey!

This was inspired by the many collection fics there are out there. I've been walking around with this idea for a while now, and the '34 Stories, 106 Reviews' challenge, gave me the final push to start with this.

This fic is supposed to be or become a collection of romantic one-shots, they'll all take place in the Harry Potter-Universe.

That said, I DON'T OWN HARRY POTTER.

Occasionally there will be one-shots added to this collection, they might be written for a challenge or not. I have a reasonably long list of prompts and pairings, BUT I am accepting requests. So if you have a pairing that you'd really like to see written (please add a prompt too, it makes it a bit easier), you can PM it to me, or put it into a review. However, I'm going to set a few rules:

1. You can only send requests in a review on the first (this) chapter, or in a pm (don't spam my mailbox either :p)

2. I can't promise your request will be written within the week, but it will be written eventually.

3. I don't write m-rated stories.

4. There might be pairings I'm not really comfortable with, but I'll try to write every pairing. If I feel I really can't write it, I will tell you.

5. I'll put at the beginning of every one-shot the name for who it is written. If you don't find a name, then it's one from my own list.

6. Like I said before, there will only be one-shots about characters from the Harry Potter-Universe. If you want me to write for other fandoms, you can try to convince me, but I don't promise anything.

This 'introduction' might get updated from time to time, but I'll probably mention it in one of the one-shots when I do.

Thanks,

Han


	2. Believing Him

**For:** '34 Stories, 106 Reviews' - Challenge

**Pairing:** Severus Snape x Remus Lupin

**Prompt:** Believe Me

Believing Him

Fifteen year old Remus Lupin stood waiting outside Greenhouse Two nervously wringing his hands. He had asked Flitwick if he could go to the bathroom, so he could skive off and wait for him.

He wanted, no, he needed to explain that he hadn't known. He didn't want him to think he was some sort of monster, but if he had to be honest: he was a just had to believe that he hadn't known of the prank.

Remus shuffled his feet, he had to keep himself from biting his nails. He just wanted this over with, and the fact that he had this gut feeling didn't ease his nerves.

xxxxxxx

Meanwhile, inside of Greenhouse Two, Severus Snape sat in the back of the class. He wasn't really listening to Professor Sprout, his mind was somewhere else or rather with someone else.

Ever since the incident two weeks ago he had been feeling rather down. His best friend Lily Evans hadn't spoken to him in days, she thought it had been his own fault he had fallen for the prank with his stupid obsession about Remus Lupin.

Severus shook his head. He did not have an obsession with Lupin. Everyone just had to admit that those monthly disappearings were strange. But even as he was thinking it he had to admit it wasn't true. He did have an obsession with Remus Lupin, and even though he now knew that Lupin was a werewolf he still couldn't bring himself to be disgusted with him. Oh yes, he was disgusted, but not with Lupin. He was disgusted with himself, because no normal boy would've feelings for another boy.

Severus shuddered, _feelings_ for another _boy_.

The bell rang signalling the end of the lesson. Hurriedly Severus tossed his books back in his bag, eager to get out of the classroom, he didn't want to spend anymore time than needed in any classroom, except maybe an unused one so he could sort out all his thoughts.

"Mr. Snape." He groaned, leave it to Professor Sprout to ask him to stay behind.

When everyone had filed out of the classroom, she started. "Severus, is there a reason for why you are so different from your usual self lately?"

Severus tried to look surprised, as if he didn't know he had been acting different not to say weird lately. "Different, Professor? How do you mean different?"

"You just seem to be so ... absent and I thought there might be something wrong."

Suddenly Severus felt very awkward, why was she even concerned it wasn't as if he participated that much in class.

Professor Sprout continued when she didn't receive a response. "I thought you might still feel ... bad or scared because of the 'incident' two weeks ago."

Aha there it was, she was just worried someone would find out about the stupid prank the marauders had played. He had thought about it, he actually longed to tell somebody Lupin was a werewolf, but oddly, it didn't feel good. It didn't feel right.

He shook his head. "No Professor, I've just been thinking about certain ... things and I just got a bit distracted. It won't happen again ma'am."

She smiled at him. "That's good to hear Severus, and don't let it happen again."

Severus turned to walk out of the classroom, he wondered if she'd even heard what he had said, probably not, nobody ever did.

He was just about to step outside when a sudden flash of red and gold caught his attention. There right outside the classroom stood Remus Lupin, the Wolf hadn't noticed him yet so he silently snuck around the corner of the Greenhouse. If Lupin wanted to trick him, he wouldn't know what was going to hit him.

xxxxxxx

Finally the door opened and students poured out. Remus only just managed to hide himself in time.

He intently studied the crowd of students, hoping to spot Severus among the sea of black robes. He felt his stomach drop when he couldn't find him, now was not the time for Severus not to be here. Remus went to get out of his hiding place, when suddenly he was thrown against the glass wall of Greenhouse Two with a wand pointed at his throat.

"What are you doing here?" Severus voice, although he spoke softly, held a terrifying amount of anger.

"I-I, Severus, I was doing nothing, a-absolutely nothing." Remus managed to croak out, despite being choked.

"Just admit it, Wolf, you just came here to laugh at me and hex me behind my back." Remus still managed to look offended, though he did look an unhealthy shade of blue. "I-I'm nothing like James and Sirius, I don't think their pranks are all that funny." He had trouble breathing now.

"Severus, can you please let me breathe." Severus did lessen his grip on Remus' throat, but he still didn't trust him enough to let him go.

"Then what do you want?" Remus gulped, "Well you see, I-I wanted, no, I needed to ..."

"What are you waiting for Wolf, just spit it out." Severus was seething, how dare the Wolf sneak up on him and then lie about it.

Remus sighed inwardly, better get it over with. "Well you see Severus, I just wanted to tell you that I didn't know anything about the prank Sirius played on you. I never meant to scare or hurt you." He only just managed to wheeze that last part out as Severus grip had tightened once again whilst he had been talking.

"You liar." Severus all but yelled. "You and your petty little friends have been trying to hurt and humiliate me for years. I wouldn't be surprised if you came up with this one too. Merlin knows Potter and Black are too stupid to think up all those pranks on their own."

"NO!" Remus' eyes colored amber for a moment. Severus immediately let go of Remus and backed away a few steps.

Remus looked desperate at Severus. "Please Severus! You've got to believe me, I'd never want to hurt you, never!" Remus made to grab Severus arm, but he dodged out of Remus' way.

"You stay away from me Wolf! Leave me alone! The only thing you've ever done to me his hurt me, so don't lie to me and say you'd never want to do that." He turned and ran back to the huge doors which marked the entrance to the school.

"Severus wait!"

Remus truly was desperate now, Severus just couldn't hate him, he couldn't stand Severus hating him, not for a stupid prank.

He started to run after Severus hoping to catch up with him. Severus, although very fast, couldn't outrun Remus' Wolf speed and soon Remus had caught up with him and stopped him by grabbing his wrist.

"Severus, please listen to me." Remus' voice was surprisingly soft.

Severus tried to escape Remus' firm grip on his wrist. He didn't want the Wolf to see the tears that were threatening to fall. He didn't want to lose the dignity he had left. He didn't want to tell the Wolf that he just wanted to be friends and be left alone. And above all, he didn't want the Wolf to know he had fancied him for a long time.

"Just leave me alone, I don't believe you and I never will." Severus had stopped struggling and just looked at his feet.

Remus didn't know what to do anymore, he hoped that what he was about to do satisfied Severus doubts and made him believe what he said.

"Maybe this can convince you."

Severus curiously lifted his head.

Slowly Remus came closer and closer, and Severus did nothing to stop him. He didn't run when Remus let go of his wrist. He didn't think when Remus' lips softly touched his.

And Remus? He had never felt happier in his entire life when Severus didn't pull away.

"So," Remus said when they finally broke apart. "are you convinced now or do I need to try again?"

Slowly Severus' blank stare transformed into a grin as he said, "I think I'm not really convinced."

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><p><em>Love isn't something you find. Love is something that finds you. - Loretta Young<em>


	3. Reassuring Her

**For:** '34 Stories, 106 Reviews' - Challenge

**Pairing:** Hermione Granger x Sirius Black

**Prompt:** Cats and Dogs

**A/N:** I normally don't write adult-child relationships (Yes, even though here they are technically both adults, I still classify them as adult-child), but the point of the challenge is to write pairings you aren't really comfortable with or you have never written before so I tried and I must say that it wrote easier than I thought. You might recognize it a bit, because I took one of my hundred words drabbles and expanded it a bit, in fact you can find the last part on one of the Drabble Request Topics, but still I hope you enjoy it.

Reassuring Her

"Come on, Hermione, stop reading the book over and over again and just try it already." Sirius stepped in the room with a flourish.

Hermione looked up from her book, "I'm still not sure about a few parts. I mean, all these pictures are quite disturbing: a squirrel with a human head, a man with whiskers, ..."

Sirius laughed, "You do know that those things can be fixed, don't you?" He turned to Hermione after he closed the door.

"Yes, yes, I know that those mistakes can be fixed, it says so in the book, but it also says ..."She skipped through the pages till she found the 'Healing Severe Animagus Mistakes'-chapter. "Here: paragraph four, _'while situations where animagus transformations went wrong can be fixed, it is said to be extremely painful for all parties involved'_." She raised her eyebrows at Sirius, as to prove her point, but it didn't seem to work as Sirius only started laughing louder.

"Why are you laughing? I'm serious, Sirius! This isn't funny!" Hermione stood up from her chair, ready to smack him if he didn't stop laughing.

Sirius only barely managed to fall into an armchair and after a minute or two he was able to talk again. "You know, …, that book is so accurate." Hermione looked puzzled.

Sirius, upon seeing her face, started explaining. "Well, you know that James and I," "And Wormtail" "And that bloody, traiterous, foul, evil rat, attempted to do the animagus transformation to help Remus out with his monthly problem, don't you?"

At Hermione's nod, he continued, "Well, I don't know how it happened, but it was nearing Christmas and me and James actually were very lucky we both stayed at Hogwarts that year, or at least I was."

"Why, what happened?" Hermione eagerly leaned forward to hear more.

Sirius shuckled, "Well, if you don't interrupt me, you'll find out."

Hermione blushed.

"It so happened that after Moony's november time of the month, we transformed back but somehow my hand didn't transform and I was stuck with a dog paw. We tried a lot of things to get it back to normal, but nothing seemed to help. Stupidly enough we didn't try to transform back even though it was actually quite obvious that that would solve our problem."

Hermione looked puzzled again. "But how does it have to do with the book? Just tranforming back doesn't seem so painful to me."

"Well, yes, the transformation isn't painful, but we only transformed again somewhere end December, start January, so I walked around with a dog paw for about a month." Sirius explained.

"Still, how does that make it painful for everyone involved?" Hermione asked again.

"Eeh," Sirius sheepishly scratched the back of his head. "I tended to forget I had a dog paw. Moony was very good at concealment charms, so he cast a few spells to conceal the paw and I wore gloves to hide it too."

Hermione smiled, "Didn't people get suspicious? I mean, you were walking around with gloves on all the time."

Sirius smiled dimmed a little, "Yeah, we had a bit of a problem with that too, till James told everyone I had an allergic reaction and my hands were covered in ugly boils."

Hermione, although looking a bit disgusted, laughed. "I bet you didn't find that very funny."

"No, no, I didn't. Girls kept avoiding me for months and a few even asked what I was allergic for, I'd never been so without attention before." He looked sullen, but quickly laughed uneasy when he saw Hermione's glare. "Not that I care about other girls' attention, no, not at all." He let out a high squeaky laugh.

"You still haven't told me how that dog paw managed to be a pain for everyone involved." Hermione said a bit softer, she knew her Sirius after all.

"Well," Sirius cleared his throat, "like I said, I tended to forget I had a dog paw, so every time I gave James a pat on his shoulder, or when I hit him over the head, I knocked him over or gave him a bruise. I think I even dislocated his shoulder at one point." Sirius looked thoughtful.

Hermione laughed, it probably hadn't been really funny for James, but she was sure they had all laughed about it afterwards.

"So," Sirius stood up from his armchair. "Now, it's your turn isn't it." He looked at Hermione, who suddenly looked a whole lot more nervous than she had been a mere minute ago.

"He he, what do you mean Sirius? I'm going to go fix dinner." But before she had the chance to run out of the room, Sirius had caught her in his arms, lifted her wand of the table, put it in her hand and deposited her in the middle of the room.

"Right, you're going to do that animagus transformation right now and you're going to do it splendidly, Hermione."

"Sirius, do you really think I can do this?" Hermione was standing in the middle of the room, her wand was only the slightest bit shaking in her hand.

"Do you really have to ask? Off course Hermione," Sirius smiled his reassuring smile. "I mean, I could do it, and you're definetly the brightest witch of your age, so why shouldn't you be able to do the animagus transformation?"

Hermione bit her lip, "I don't know Sirius, I-I'm only eighteen, and, and I don't- I mean- I-"

Sirius put his finger on her lips to silence her.

"It'll work out Hermione, trust me." He pressed a soft kiss on her lips, and went back to his armchair.

Hermione blushed, smiled a little and gripped her wand firm in her hand.

She raised it, made some complex movements and said the Animagus spell.

It went slow at first, because it was the first time, and it was only after a few minutes the bright white light stopped shining and Sirius could see Hermione again.

Only now, it wasn't Hermione anymore, in her place stood a beautiful, brown-beige cat.

The cat mewed and ran over to Sirius lap, were it nestled itself comfortably on his legs.

Sirius sat stunned, a cat, he hated cats. But then again, Hermione had tried the animagus transformation and it had worked out, so he couldn't do anything else than scratch the beauty behind the ears. Still, he could have a little fun, couldn't he? So he leant down to the cat's ear and said: "Now, you just have to transform back, you do read that up, didn't you?"

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><p><em>He who is in love is wise and is becoming wiser, sees newly every time he looks at the object beloved, drawing from it with his eyes and his mind those virtues which it possesses. - Ralph Waldo Emerson<em>


	4. Starting Small

**For:** '34 Stories, 106 Reviews' - Challenge

**Beta:** justawriter33

**Pairing:** Bellatrix Lestrange x Regulus Black

**Prompt:** Childhood

**A/N:** I know this isn't exactly romance, but you can hardly have two toddlers kiss, can you? And I know the word love isn't used to describe what they have, but it just seemed to fit. Bellatrix might seem a bit OOC, but that's because I don't think she was crazy when she was six, but that's my opinion actually this entire one-shot is based on my 'opinion' on how she exactly became who she is, so if you don't understand something just ask. Pheww, ..., I feel strange, ..., I mean, I'm happy with how the story turned out but I'm not. I constantly get the feeling that it's quite good or quite bad, but yeah, ..., I'll let you decide about that.

Starting Small

"Bella!"

Druella waited a few seconds at the bottom of the stairs before she called her oldest daughter again.

"Bella!"

Still, she received no answer.

Druella Black was getting fed up. Her two youngest, Andromeda and Narcissa, were already waiting in the parlor, ready to floo to Orion and Walburga. Her husband, Cygnus, would floo there directly from his work. The only thing stopping them from going was Bellatrix, and what she was doing now, Druella had no idea. She was only six years old, getting dressed surely didn't take that long.

She decided to try one more time before she went to get Bellatrix.

"Bellatrix!"

Silence.

She sighed and started up the stairs. Her daughter had better be ready, or else.

When she got at the top of the stairs, Druella immediately went to the end of the hallway and stopped in front of the dark brown door. It was open, a sure sign that Bellatrix must have heard her, so why wasn't her little girl answerring?

She pushed the door further but, just like she had thought, Bellatrix wasn't in there. And to top it, the dress she was supposed to wear was thrown on the bed in a crumpled heap. Obviously her daughter did not have the intention to do as she was told. She let out a few swear words that were not fit for a lady, but she now had only half an hour left to find her daughter, get her in the dress and floo to her sister-in-law. And if there was on thing she despised it was arriving somewhere too late. Rosiers always arrived on time, she prided herself on it.

45 Minutes later

Druella arrived back in the kitchen. She had searched every room in the house and still hadn't found her errant daughter. Her husband had already picked up Narcissa and Andromeda. He had been thoroughly angry at Bellatrix for disappearing, and had told Druella he would punish her later.

She went to fill a glass of water and drank it down in one gulp, again behavior surely not fit for a lady, but she desperately wanted to find her daughter and decorum be damned right now. Her husband was quite the tempered man and she did not like seeing her children punished even if they sometimes diserved it.

Suddenly she heard giggling behind here, swiftly turning around she was ready to scold her oldest for laughing at her, but found no one.

She furrowed her brow and looked around the kitchen like a hawk, hoping to spot the mysterious giggler. Druella already had a good idea who it was, but she hoped her daughter had not done what she thought she had because if she had done that, she might have to search for Bellatrix the rest of the day. She heard someone giggle again, only this time it came from the sitting room. Druella quickly walked over there before her daughter could disappear again and said in the sternest tone she could muster, "Bellatrix Black, you stop this nonsense right now and make yourself visible again."

She waited for any sign her daughter would've listened to her, and indeed she didn't have to wait very long. Bellatrix soon became visible, but the sight of her made Druella sigh. Bellatrix' curly black hair was messy and she still wore her nightdress.

At the sight of her mother Bellatrix smiled a little. Usually her mother was very nice and often played some games with her and her sisters when her father wasn't home, but now her mother didn't look very happy.

She was still sitting on the ground when her mother strode over to her and took her in her arms. Bellatrix was startled at first, her mother didn't carry her or her sisters a lot, only when they were in a hurry or if they had fallen asleep at a party or somewhere else. Bellatrix put her head on her mother's shoulder, they probably were in a hurry now, she thought, she hadn't fallen asleep so that was the only other possibility.

They neared her room and Bellatrix realized a bit too late that her mother had asked her to wear the dress she had thrown on her bed. She didn't like the dress and she did not want to go to a stupid party, but her parents always insisted on going, and why they always had to wear such fancy clothing she didn't understand. She'd rather go in simple clothing, the ones were she was allowed to play in. Not that she was allowed to do anything at those fancy parties, if she did something her parents didn't approve of she'd always get swatted.

Bellatrix unconciously rubbed her bottom when her mother put her down, no she absolutely did not want to go to the party.

Druella took her wand from its holder, picked up the light blue dress and smoothed the creases in it.

"Bellatrix, undress and fold your night gown please."

Bellatrix fiddled with her sleeves and stuck out her bottom lip in what was unmistakably a pout. It didn't seem to work on Druella, because as soon as she spotted her daughter just standing there she reached around Bellatrix and swatted her once.

"I will not ask again Bellatrix. Now do as I say or we are going to be late."

Bellatrix immediately shot in action, if they were going to be late she would be in a lot of trouble. Her mother didn't like arriving late, and Bellatrix surely did not want to be the reason for their tardiness.

She quickly donned her nightdress, folded it and stood waiting for her mother to hand her the frilly dress.

"Here now, Bella, put this on." Druella handed Bellatrix the dress. She already felt sorry for the swat she had given her, normally she wouldn't have swatted her after asking only one time, but they were running late and she already didn't dare look at the clock the last time she looked, they had already been thirty minutes late.

"Now turn around so I can fix your hair." Bellatrix complied and Druella conjured a hairbrush to start combing the messy curls. They were already late, so she didn't bother fixing Bella's hair with her wand, she did a far better job without it.

Bellatrix fiddled with the frills on her dress, she desperatly didn't want to go, but she didn't dare tell that to her mother.

Druella noticed the fiddling and her daughter's restlessness. "Bellatrix, what's wrong?"

Bellatrix turned her head slightly, but said nothing. "Bella, I cannot read it of your face, so either tell me what is wrong or turn forward again because otherwise I cannot fix your hair."

Bellatrix hesitantly looked forward again and Druella continued combing her hair.

"I don't wanna go mummy!" Bellatrix suddenly blurted out.

Druella inwardly sighed, she'd had this conversation countless times with Bellatrix even though the girl was only six.

"Bella, you know you have to go."

Bellatrix turned around swiftly. "But I don't wanna go!" She was one step away from stomping her feet.

"Bellatrix!"

"But I really don't wanna go mummy." She said in a small voice.

Druella sighed when she saw Bellatrix was almost in tears, her bottom lip stuck out in a pout and her foot kicking at some invisible dust.

She took her daughter's chin in her hand and brought it up till she met her eyes.

"I know you don't want to go Bella, but Daddy wants you to go, and -no don't interrupt me- I'll talk to Daddy alright, 'cause I know you heard him earlier and he's not going to punish you because of this Bella."

"Really?" Bellatrix hoped her mother was right, unknown to her, her mother hoped exactly the same.

"Really Bella, he was just a bit mad earlier because we were already a bit late, but he's calmed down already Bella and he's going to be really happy if we arrive at the party."

Bellatrix looked a bit happier already.

"And, "Druella added, she knew this was going to do the trick, "I know someone else who's going to be very happy when you arrive." She left her daughter in a bit of a suspense, prompting her to guess.

"Who, mummy, who?" She was practically jumping with curiosity.

"You do know who's party it is, don't you Bella?"

Bellatrix had to think for a minute, "Aunt Walburga and Uncle Orion."

Suddenly her eyes lit up with joy, "So Reggy is going to be there!"

Regulus was a year younger than her, but he was really great to play with. He was much more fun than his brother Sirius, who was her age.

Druella had to smile at her little girl's joy. The child really liked Regulus, and though it was very unlikely they'd end up together, she didn't discourage their friendship. She didn't call it love, they were only toddler afters all, but they were very fond of each other.

Bellatrix still had that dreamy look on her face. Reggy, he had been one of her first friends and she really liked him. She didn't like Sirius, Lucius or Rodolphus and Rabastan . They were nasty boys, always picking on her.

"Mummy, can we go now? I really want to go, I want to see Reggy!"

"Yes we can, Bella." She gave her a kiss on the forehead. "Now turn around so I can finish your hair, then we'll go and see Regulus."

* * *

><p><em>All love that has not friendship for its base, is like a mansion built upon sand. - Ella Wheeler Wilcox<em>


	5. Trusting Her

**For:** chelseyb1010

**Beta:** Matt-Eye Moody

**Pairing:** Harry Potter x Nymphadora Tonks

**Prompts:** Quidditch & "Trust me"

**A/N:** I know it's been a while since I posted another story, but here it is. I hope you like it. It is AU, because Harry plays professional Quidditch, Tonks is still alive and I couldn't be bothered with keeping everything according to the books, so sorry if you don't like it, I did my best. For people who wonder what AQ stands for, it means Anti-Quidditch (how lame). Mr. Corner is indeed Michael Corner.

Trusting Her

Harry looked out of the window. In the distance, he could see the forest surrounding the burrow. If he squinted, he could see some people flying through the air.

Ron had asked him before if he wanted to come and play some Quidditch with them but truth be told, he hadn't wanted to. He hadn't dared.

Harry didn't tell Ron he didn't want to play Quidditch anymore, he had just told him he had felt a bit off. It was true, he didn't feel great but it was more from the thought of Quidditch than from any upcoming cold.

He tore his gaze from the forest and the flying blurs and sat on the chair behind his desk. Ever since the accident he had sought refuge in 'his' room. Harry still didn't see it as his, but Mr. and Mrs. Weasley had insisted he take Bill's old room, just as they had insisted that he called them Arthur and Molly instead of Mr. and Mrs. Weasley all of the time.

He sighed, taking one of the newspaper clippings he had collected off his desk. His healer had discouraged him from doing so, but Harry found it helped to him remind himself why he'd never fly on a broom again.

BOY-WHO-LIVED QUIDDITCH WONDER KILLS OPPONENT SEEKER

_Boy-Who-Lived and hero of the Wizarding World, Harry Potter made a fatal move in his last Quidditch game. Potter, who played for the Falmouth Falcons, seemed to have taken the Teams Motto, 'Let us win, but if we cannot win, let us break a few heads', to heart. His spectacular Wronski Feint turned out deadly in the game versus Puddlemere United._

"_Potter seemed to play a vicious game from the start." Mr. Corner told our reporter. Mr. Corner, a self-proclaimed Puddlemere fanatic was a former classmate of Potter. He admitted to me that he always found Potter a bit unstable. "Oh yeah, Potter had quite the temper- even when he was only twelve. I've known him for a long time and this doesn't surprise me one bit."_

Harry stopped reading. He had already read this particular article ten times and had no intention of reading Corner's accusations again. Harry could tell word for word what Corner had said in that interview. It hadn't only been in the papers, the radio had broadcasted it and the tabloids had a field day with it.

He looked at the other headlines.

BOY-WHO-LIVED DANGEROUS AFTER ALL?

WRONSKI FEINT DEADLY

AQ ASKS FOR QUIDDITCH BAN

Harry put the clippings away again. No point in reading them again, he knew what had happened.

It was true, the game against Puddlemere hadn't started great. There had been some disruptions before the match and both teams had been subjected to verbal abuse.

Harry had wanted to end the game, but Puddlemere's seeker, Mike Cobbers, had kept tailing him. So Harry had resorted to the one move he knew that could end that problem, but unfortunately Cobbers kept tailing him and didn't even seem to notice he was falling for the Wronski Feint. That had ended in a spectacular disaster with Cobbers crashing head first into the ground. The Healers later told Harry Cobbers had died on impact.

After that horrendous incident the Puddlemere supporters went wild and Harry ended up in Saint-Mungo's as a result of the many curses and hexes fired his way.

He had been there for over a month, but still had to do a bit revalidation afterwards. Mr. and Mrs. Weasley had offered him a place to stay, because he couldn't live on his own yet.

Harry had enjoyed the seclusion, though he was glad he still had his friends. They had been a bit annoying, because they kept trying to get him on a broom, but he didn't blame them. He was too busy blaming himself.

He went to watch out over the garden to look at the forest again. The speedy blurs were still there, even though it was getting dark. Harry allowed a tiny smile to grace his face. Every Weasley, even Ginny, lost sense of time when they were playing, but they all counted on their stomach to tell them when they had to get back. Judging by the smells coming from downstairs, their game would end soon.

Harry let himself fall face down on his bed but immediately lifted his head again when he heard footsteps on the stairs. Hardly anyone bothered him when he was in a mood like this. Maybe it was Hermione, going up to her and Ron's temporary room. Their little house still wasn't fully furnished so they stayed at the Burrow until they could move in.

'Not Hermione I guess', Harry thought when his door creaked open.

"Wotcher Harry!" He suppressed a sigh. Just what he needed- a cheery Tonks, surly up here just to pursued him onto his broom.

He grunted in acknowledgement.

When Harry just stayed in his prone position, Tonks carded her hand through her bubblegum pink hair. She cleared her throat, now feeling nervous again. Why did that stubborn git have to make it so hard?

"So, Harry." She placed a chair near his bed and casually sat down on it. "How're ya doing?"

Harry momentarily lifted his head, saying, "Good."

Tonks scratched her neck, "Molly told me you didn't go flying with the rest."

"Obviously not. Seeing as I'm still up here," came Harry's sarcastic reply. "Why do you even care? What's it to you, huh? Why don't you just leave me alone!" Harry had leapt of the bed and stood angry in front of Tonks, who looked even more nervous than she did before.

"I just do, okay."

"You just do what?" Harry yelled in her face. He knew he was getting worked up, but didn't care enough to stop. "What huh? You think that it's funny that I'm too scared to ride a broom! Or that I have nightmares about it? Even more than I do about Voldemort!"

Tonks had jumped up too. "No Harry! I just care! I hate to see you like this! I want to know why you don't trust me!"

Harry looked stunned, "Wha- What?"

Tonks calmed down a bit. "I want to know why you don't trust me."

"I-I do, I mean, … It's not like-"

Suddenly Tonks leaned in and pressed her lips to Harry. He didn't know what to do, so he just pressed back a little. Just when he was getting used to the feeling, Tonks pulled away.

Harry looked into her eyes.

"Do you trust me now?" She whispered.

* * *

><p><em>Being deeply loved by someone gives you strength, while loving someone deeply gives you courage. - Lao Tzu<em>


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